The Athanasian Creed and the Early
Church: Clearly Amillennial

By Martin R. Bachicha

Weren't the Early Church Fathers Premillennialists?

In 1976 Alan Patrick Boyd, a graduate student at Dallas Theological Seminary
began a challenging undertaking, writing a masters thesis whose goal was to
establish the prophetic faith of the early church fathers. His professor, Dr.
Charles Ryrie of Dallas Seminary fame had boldly written "Premillennialism is
the historic faith of the Church." But upon completing his thesis, Boyd
concluded the following in response, "It is the conclusion of this thesis
that Dr. Ryrie's statement is historically invalid within the chronological
framework of this thesis [apostolic age through Justin Martyr]." [ 1] (Quoted
by Bahnsen and Gentry, p. 235. [ 2] )

Thomas Albrecht, who has done additional research on this topic, also writes,
"some premillennialists had attempted to show that premillennialism was the
‘pervasive view of the earliest orthodox fathers’ (House and Ice, Dominion
Theology, p.202). But many additional scholars have shown this to be false,
including Boyd, D.H. Kromminga, Ned Stonehouse, W.G.T. Shedd, Louis Berkhof, and
Philip Schaff. According to Boyd, the best that can be said of the early Church
father is that they were ‘seminal amillennialists’ (cf. Bahnsen
and Gentry, p. 239). The early Church fathers … Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Papius,
admitted that there were many other Christians who were quite orthodox and not
premillennial." [ 3]

The following quote by the early church historian Eusebius from his classic
work The History of the Church clearly demonstrates the amillennial,
consummationist outlook held by the early church. Speaking of the grandsons of
Jude, he writes: "the grandsons of Jude.... When asked [by the Emperor Domitian]
about Christ and his kingdom--what it was like, and where it would appear--they
explained that it was not of this world or anywhere on earth but angelic and in
heaven, and would be established at the end of the world, when he would come in
glory to judge the quick and the dead ...." [The History of the Church by
Eusebius] from Charles Ludwig, Ludwig’s Handbook of New Testament Rulers
and Cities. [ 4]

Eusebius is one of the early church fathers who most clearly denounces
"chiliasm," as premillennialism was then called. In the same work he writes,
"About the same time … appeared Cerinthus, the leader of another Heresy. Caius,
in The Disputation attributed to him, writes respection him: ‘But
Cerinthus, by means of revelations which he pretended as if they were showed him
by angels, asserting, that after the resurrection there would be an earthly
kingdom of Christ, and that flesh, i.e. men, again inhabiting Jerusalem, would
be subject to desires and pleasures. Being also an enemy to the divine
scriptures, with a view to deceive men, he said that there would be a space of a
thousand years for celebrating nuptial festivals.’" Eusebius also writes of a
tradition passed down by Polycarp regarding an encounter between the Apostle
John and Cerinthus in a public bath, "He [Polycarp] says that John the Apostle
once entered a bath to wash; but ascertaining that Cerinthus was within, he
leaped out of the place and fled from the door, not enduring to enter under the
same roof with him, and exhorting those with him to do the same, saying, ‘Let us
flee, lest the bath fall in, as long as Cerinthus, that enemy of the truth is
within.’"[ 5] Tertullianus is another early church father who attributes
chiliasm’s birth to Cerinthus. He writes: "They are not to be heard who assure
themselves that there is to be an earthly reign of a thousand years, who think
with the heretic Cerinthus. For the Kingdom of Christ is now eternal in the
saints, although the glory of the saints shall be manifested after the
resurrection." [ 6]

Two of the preeminent creeds of the early church that contain verses that
clearly lean towards an amillennial belief are the Apostles’ Creed and the
Nicene Creed. The Apostles’ Creed contains the words "He [Christ]
shall come again to judge the quick and the dead," implying that both
judgement and the resurrection will take place at His coming. The Nicene
Creed states that Christ "shall come again with glory to judge the quick
and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end." Note that Christ’s kingdom
is viewed here as eternal, not as a temporal reign of 1000 years.

By far the early church statement of faith that most vividly presents the
early church’s belief in an amillennial, "consummationist" eschatology is The
Athanasian Creed. Attributed to Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria and the
champion of the Council of Nicaea, around 325 A.D., the creed ends with these
words: "He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming
all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own
works. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who
indeed have done evil into eternal fire. This is the catholic faith, which
except a man have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of
salvation." Let us analyze these closing verses more carefully to see how
they align with the belief system we know today as amillennialism, and how they
oppose any belief in an earthly 1000 year reign of Christ.

"He shall come again to judge the living and the dead." This simply
means that there will be those who are alive as well as those who are dead
when He comes (1 Thess. 4:15). Notice that judgement of the living and the
dead occurs at His coming (cf. Matt. 25:31-46), not a thousand years after
His coming.

"At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies ...."
Thus, at Christ’s coming all rise, the good and the evil alike (cf. John
5:28,29, Matt. 12:41,42). Not just the good, and then a thousand years later
the wicked.

"... and shall give account for their own works. And they that have
done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into
eternal fire." This is a clear reference to Matt. 25:31-46. Athanasius
views this as taking place after the resurrection (or translation),
making it a post-resurrection judgement. This is in sharp contrast to the
dispensational view that Matthew 25:31-46 is only a judgement of "living,
mortal Gentiles" who survived the tribulation. Note again that it (i.e. Matt.
25:31-46) is viewed as a judgement of all men, the Jew and the Gentile, the
wicked as well as the good.

We must ask, why were the early church fathers so solidly amillennial? The
first most obvious answer is that it reflected apostolic teaching, which means
they were being obedient to God’s word (Acts 2:42, Ephesians 2:20). Most
importantly, it is what the scriptures clearly teach, and being faithful
students of the scriptures, they came to this rightful conclusion. Even the late
Dr. George Eldon Ladd, a premillennialist, wrote "I admit that the greatest
difficulty to any premillennialism is the fact that most of the New Testament
pictures the consummation as occurring at Jesus’ parousia." [ 7] Lastly,
amillennialism is the single view that most highly glorifies our Lord Jesus and
His Second Coming. To demonstrate this point I will ask these questions. Which
view glorifies our Lord Jesus more? A view that has the glorified Christ
reigning eternally immediately after His advent from the New Heavenly Jerusalem
in the glory of His Father (amillennial); or a view that has Jesus reigning
temporally (i.e. for 1000 years) from an earthly Jerusalem, surrounded by mortal
men, sinners (premillennial)? Which view magnifies His Second Coming more? A
view where at His parousia He eternally judges all of mankind, the living and
the dead (amillennial), or a view where this judgement doesn’t take place until
a 1000 years after His coming (premillennial)? Which is more monumental an
advent? A Second Coming where sin is utterly effaced and death is completely
destroyed (amillennial)? Or a second coming where sin is not effaced and death
is not destroyed until a 1000 years later (premillennial)? The answer is
obvious. Let us give glory to our Lord Jesus and believe the true prophetic
faith: Amillennialism, the one and only true Christian eschatology.